Dante Alighieri

The Inferno -- Canto I

1 In the middle of our life's way
I found myself in a wood so dark
That I couldn't tell where the straight path lay.

4 Oh how hard a thing it is to embark
Upon the story of that savage wood,
For the memory shudders me with fear so stark

7 That death itself is hardly a more bitter food;
Yet whatever I observed there I'll convey,
In order to tell what I found that was good.

10 So full of sleep was I when I left the true way
That exactly how I entered that wild place
It's impossible for me to say;

13 But when I'd cleared that dark space
Which had turned my heart into a cavern
Of fear, I found myself at the base

16 Of a hill upon whose shoulders I could discern
The rays of that brilliant planet
Which guides men straight through every turn.

19 With what relief a sense of quiet
Was welcomed by a heart tossed all night
So piteously, surely I can never forget.

22 And like a man who, reaching shore, turns his sight
Still shivering upon the raging sea
From whose clutch he's just made frantic flight,

25 So my spirit, driven even now to flee,
Looked back at that pass which had never
Let a single living soul go free.

28 When I had let my tired body recover,
And was once more on the lonely slope, I found
That for balance my firm foot was forever

31 Lower than the other on the ground.
But then suddenly!—at the start of a steep ascent
There appeared a spotted leopard, jumping all around

34 With great nimbleness and plain intent
To block my path. The hour was early morning,
And rising with the sun were those very stars present

37 When Divine Love first breathed life into each fair thing;
Such a fortuitous conjunction
Of time and sweet season sent my hopes soaring,

40 Until I was thrown into agitation
By the sudden, stunning sight
Of a fierce, ravenous lion.

43 He came at me with such manifest might
And hunger that the very air which surrounded
His proud head seemed to cringe with fright.

46 My anxiety was compounded
When a lean, craven she–wolf drew near,
(That same by whom so many have been wounded

49 And now live in despair), a beast whose mere
Appearance shook me with a terror so great
That never again did I expect to steer

52 An upward course against the fearful weight
Crushing all my hopes of ascent.
And like someone whose fortunes of late

55 Have collapsed—so that from the heights he's sent
Plunging down into losses so terrible
That all he can do is wail and lament

58 That times have become so horrible –
So did I fret while that restless beast turned me about
And drove me back toward where the sun is inaudible.

61 As I was rushing back down full of doubt
And panic I saw a figure blurred and dim,
As if long silence had washed his image out.

64 "Oh have pity on me," I cried to him
In the midst of that desert. "Have pity on me,
Whoever you be, solid man or my own whim! "

67 "No man am I," he replied, "though what you see
Here was once a man, of Lombard parentage,
Mantua the soil of my family tree.

70 Under Julius I was born, though late in that age
And lived in Rome under the shining
Augustus, when false and lying gods held the stage.

73 It was then that I began to sing
Of Anchises' righteous son, to narrate
His return from proud Ilium's burning.

76 But you, why do you make such a desperate
Descent toward misery, instead of climbing that mountain
From which all the world's joy and gladness emanate? "

79 "Are you then," I answered, unable to restrain
My tongue, "that Virgil from whose lips spring
Rich words in such a bountiful fountain?

82 O glory and light of all others who sing
In verse, please show me favor
For having lovingly studied every little thing

85 In your volume. You are my master, my author,
For only through careful imitation
Of your noble style am I granted any honor.

88 But behold, famous sage, where trepidation
Gallops my pulse, and makes my veins pound;
Save me from that beast's intimidation! "

91 "If you hope to escape this wild ground, "
He advised when he saw me shiver,
"You must take another way around,

94 For this beast that makes you quiver
And cry out in dread
Is cruel and malicious; no one gets by her,

97 She blocks everyone until they're dead.
And her greedy appetite's impossible to quench—
She's just hungrier than ever once she's fed.

100 Many a creature is wedded to this wench,
And many more will suffer equal degradation,
Until at last that greyhound comes to make her blench

103 With pain, the same who marks his nation
Between Feltro and Feltro, that embodiment
Of wisdom, love, and virtue, the salvation

106 Of lowly Italy, for whose sake were sent
To their deaths Euryalus, Camilla the virgin,
Turnus and Nisus, and others of the noble intent.

109 He'll chase that Hell 'scaped beast through thick and thin
Until at last, where envy first turned her free,
He'll thrust her back and lock her in.

112 All considered, I think it best for you to follow me.
I'll be your guide through scenes you'd never meet
On your own, eternal scenes where you will see

115 Ancient spirits writhing hopelessly in the heat
And clamoring—such pain to do they endure
In that Inferno—for blessed death's repeat.

118 Later you'll see those to whom the raging fire's cure
Brings contentment, for by such cleansing they hope one day
To enter the ranks of the blessed and pure.

121 And thirdly, if you still wish to pursue the way,
A soul more worthy than I will be your guide,
For the emperor above decrees that I must stay

124 Below and never enter inside
That city whose law I once rejected.
Great is that ruler whose will I denied,

127 And fortunate are those collected
In blessedness about His high throne;
Happy are those He has elected. "

130 "Poet," I replied, "I beseech you by that God unknown
To you, help me escape my present state
And others to which you lend an even ghastlier tone.

133 Lead me on that journey you relate,
So that I may see those you paint so sorrowed,
And stand myself before Saint Peter's gate."

136 Then he moved, and close behind I followed.